31 Days of Streaming Halloween – Day 13 – Society (1989)

Alas, our copy of Invasion of the Body Snatchers didn’t work last night so we had to move on to another recommendation and exemplary piece of body horror – Brian Yuzna’s Society, which stars Baywatch’s Billy Warlock.

Warlock is Bill Whitney, part of a wealthy Beverly Hills family who seem to have it all. However, Bill feels increasingly isolated from his family and that he doesn’t belong. His sister is about to join ‘society’ at a prestigious party and he starts having strange visions around their house. Then his friend Blanchard (Tim Bartell) presents him with a secret recording from the party which reveals just what his sister – and his parents, and all the rest of the elite – do at a society party.

It’s a savage piece of satire from the start, with Yuzna commenting on how the rich literally feed off the poor. Its tongue is firmly in its cheek – and every other body part going – but Yuzna directs with gusto and all the characters give good performances with cheesy dialogue, nudity and the mother of all end sequences on offer. What happens at the end is the stuff of cult legend and it isn’t as gross as we once thought it was – but it’s out there, it’s really out there. We won’t spoil it for you if you haven’t seen it. Perhaps don’t eat whilst you’re watching it!